Grain-car door.



H- W. WILLIS.

GRAIN CAR DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 28. I914.

LMQJWW Patented Dec. 11,1917.

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H. W. WILLIS.

GRAIN CAR DOOR. APPLICATION FILED MAR.28.19I4.

1249,7031 Patented Dec. 11,1917.

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UNITED STATES lttrldlthttt lt HENRY W. WILLIS, 0F LANSJFUED, NORTH lll lltlfl'ltllt.

GRAIN- Ultlt llOOlit.

Application filed March 2d, 191d.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY llf. WILLIs, citizen of the United States, residing at Lansford, in the county of Bottineau and State of North Dakota, have invented certain new and useful improvements in Grain- Car Doors, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to new and useful. improvements in grain car doors, the object of my invention being to provide an im proved grain car door of the type employing co-acting upper and lower door sections, each mounted for independent movementfor opening.

A further object of my invention is to so construct the door sections that in open position they may be swung to lie fully out of the way.

A yet further object of my invention is the provision of means for fastening the doors when closed in such a manner that all leakage of grain or other contents of the car is prevented.

With these and other objects in view, my invention will be more fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and then specifically pointed out in the claim which is attached to and forms a part of this application.

in the drawings lligure l is a front elevation of a preferred form of grain car door construction;

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view taken on the line 9-9 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line ill-10 of Fig. l, the open position. of the upper door being shown in dotted lines.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followin description and indicated in all the views 0 the drawings by the same reference characters.

in order to insure a clear understanding of the construction and operation of my improved grain car door, I have illustrated the same in connection with a grain car 10 having a door opening defined by spaced door posts 71, a threshold and a lintel each designated 82. My improved form of grain car door construction includes upper an Ll. lower doors 64 and 65, respectively, the upper door being constructed to swing in. wardly to rest against the roof of the car when in o en position, while the lower door it adapts tn swing outwardly tn hang Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented line it, itll't,

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against the forward face of the sill. Each of these doors is preferably formed from a single piece of sheet metal. corrugated trans versely as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings and each door is provided adjacent its ends with vertically extending brace strips or bars (36 of metal, bolted, riveted or otherwise secured to the sheet metal forn'iing the doors.

Extending along the outer faces of the doors, preferably intermediate their height, are truss rods 67 which are tightened and held in position, ith their intermediate por tions bowed outwardly by means of braces 68. Each brace is formed from a single bar of metal bent substantially ll-shaped with its terminals directed away from each other and bolted or riveted to the door as shown at 69 and with its bight portion rcbent centrally to form a seat 70 for the intermediate portion of the truss rod to space the same away from the door. lhe door posts ll, adjacent their lower ends, are provided with vertically disposed stops 7:2 formed from strips of iron bolted to the posts and arranged to limit inward swinging movement of the lower door, while the door posts above the stops 7'2 are provided with similar steps 73 arranged to limit outward swinging movement of the upper door, the stops and "i3 being so an ranged with respect to each other that the door sections, in closed position, will be in vertical alinement with their adjacent edges overlapping as clearly shown in Fig. 3. Because of the corrugating of the sheet metal forming the doors, this overlapping joint is extremely tight and all. leakage of grain from the car or moisture into the car is prevented. The steps 72 and '73 also prevent leakage of grain past the side edges of the door sections.

in addition to the brace strips 66 l provide hinge plates it which also act as brace strips and the ends oi which extend to the lower edge of the lower door and beyond the upper edge of the upper door and are bent to form hinge rod receiving eyes 75. The doors are swingingly mounted upon hinge rods 76 which are retained by these eyes and the hinge rods are preferably additionally secured to the door by bending the adjacent edges of the sheet metal forming the doors about the intermediate portions of the hinge rods as shown at 77. Each hinge rod is formed from a single metal rod having its end portions bent laterally ld ll lid as shown at 78 with their terminals extended in opposite directions and parallel to their bodies as shown at 79, forming in effect crank hinges, the terminals of the hinge rod of the upper door G l being journaled in bearings 80 secured to the inner faces of the door posts 71, while the terminals of the hinge rod of the lower door 65 are extended into sockets 81 formed in the opposed faces of the door posts 71 and adjacent the sill 82.

The outer edge of the door sill is channeled vertically as shown at 83 to receive the laterally directed curved portions 78 of the lower hinge rod when the lower door is swung outwardly to open position, thus permitting the door to hang beneath the car and in siiibstantially the same plane with the front of the sill when the lower door is opened. The laterally directed portions of the hinge rod for the upper door 64, ar so proportioned that when the door is swung inwardly and upwardly to the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 3, the door may rest snugly against the roof of the car, being held in place by a swinging hook 8% carried by a hook plate 85 bolted to one of the transverse rafters 86 of the car, the bill of the hook engaging against the lower face of the door when the latter is in raised position. To prevent disengagement of the hook, due to vibration of the car, I provide a locking pawl 87 pivoted to in one position engage against the rear face of the shank of the hook, which face is provided with a stop shoulder 88 to prevent disengagement of the pawl from the hook through gravity.

In order to lock the lower door in closed position, I provide each door post with a lock in the form of a plate 89 having a slot 90 through which a pin 91 passes, whereby the plate is slidably mounted upon the post. This slot, as shown, is disposed diagonally of the plate so that sliding of the plate along the pin will cause its inner end to move outwardly away from the door. Stop pins 92 are provided to pr vent swinging of the plate when forced to its innermost position, that is, into engagement with the outer face of the lower door (35. The upper door 6st is secured against swinging movement, when in closed position, by means of button forming plates 93 swingingly mounted upon the outside of the door 6-l adjacent its lower edge and adapted, in one position, to extend by their free ends over the upper edge portion of the lower door.

From the foregoing description, the operation of the grain car door of the type shown will be readily understood and no further description is therefore believed to be necessary. It should he noted, however, that in opening the lower door (35, the door may be first swung about the crank portion of its hinge rod as a pivot until it rests upon the crank arms of the rod when it may be further swung or tilted, together with the hinge rod about the pivoted terminals of the rod until the door depends in suhstam tiall a vertical plane with the crank arms of the hinge rod extending upwardly and outwardly. The door may then be lowered by outward and downward swinging ol' the crank arms of the hinge rod while the crank portion of the rod turns in its hearings on the door. It will. therefore be clear that the lower door may be opened when the space between the car and warehouse is even a trifle less than the height: of the lower door, and that when open, the lower door will be entirely out of the way and not liable to injury should the car he moved.

Although I have illustrated and described my car door construction in detail, it will of course be understood that I do not with to limit myself to the specific details of -oustruction shown, as various minor changes, within the scope of the appended claim. may be made at any time without; in the sligflitest degree departing from the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described the inventkm, what is claimed as new is:

The combination with a grain car having a door opening including spaced posts and a transverse sill, there being vertical recesses formed in the outer face of the sill and sockets formed in the inner fa .es of the door posts and spaced from the sill, of a door section forming a closure for the lower part of the door opening, and a rod hingedly connected to the lower edge of the door section and provided with oppositely disposed crank arms, the terminals of which are journalcd in the sockets, said door section being movable to open position at the front ol. the car and below the sill with the crank arms seated in the vertical recesses in the sill and with the then outer face of the door section substantially in the plane of the outer face of the sill.

In testimony whereof I aliix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

J. G. lVALs'rAn, D. S. CHRISTENSON.

lit. s. l

@optea oi? thli patent may he obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

